Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Choosing Care Challenge

Deadline: March 13, 2017

Patients often walk away from a visit to their physician perplexed and too overwhelmed with to-dos to take the important next steps. Physicians give important instructions regarding medications or visits to specialists, but every insurance plan and neighborhood offers different options. Patients need help finding the most accessible and affordable services based on their location and insurance plan.

The Choosing Care Challenge will support tech enabled tools to help patients identify and locate the most relevant follow-up services after a doctor’s appointment. The Challenge is interested in tools that help patients identify and locate:

Prescriptions: Help patients compare cost and local availability of prescriptions based on insurance coverage

Imaging labs: Help patients find labs and imaging centers based on location and insurance coverage

Specialists: Help patients obtain referrals to specialists based on location and insurance coverage

The challenge is organized into two phases with the goal of producing a mobile or web application for average consumers.

Phase I – the concept development stage: The goal is to develop a novel approach to the issue. Phase I submissions should display a strong concept and innovative design.

Phase II – the breakthrough stage: The goal is to create a fully functional application or tool with the ability to demonstrate effectiveness and support its users in identifying health care services (note: this phase is only open to the five finalists from the concept development stage; the deadline is June 19, 2017).

Amount: A total of $25,000 will be awarded in Phase I to five finalists. Each Phase I award is $5,000. In Phase II, three awards will be made: one $10,000 award, one $15,000 award, and one $50,000 award.

Eligibility: Business and nonprofit entities formed and maintaining a principal place of business in the U.S.; and individuals and teams of no more than five individuals, who are (i) citizens or permanent residents of the U.S and (ii) of the legal age of majority, at the time of entry, to form valid contracts in their respective jurisdiction of legal residence.